Light manipulation of inroganic nanosheet liquid crystals and their functions

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15H03878
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (B)
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Inorganic industrial materials
• Research Institution: Kyushu Institute of Technology
• Principal Investigator: Nakato Teruyuki 九州工業大学, 大学院工学研究院, 教授 (10237315)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): 川俣 純 山口大学, 大学院創成科学研究科, 教授 (40214689) ; 岩井 俊昭 東京農工大学, 工学(系)研究科(研究院), 教授 (80183193)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): MOURI Emiko 九州工業大学, 大学院工学研究院, 助教 (60380721)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: 無機ナノシート / ナノ材料 / 液晶 / コロイド / レーザー / 光操作 / 階層構造

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We investigated optical manipulation of liquid crystalline inorganic nanosheets to obtain hierarchical and local structures in a colloidal system. Laser irradiation to colloidal niobate nanosheets aligned them in the direction of the incident laser beam. At the focal point, the nanosheet orientation depended on the polarization direction of the laser beam. In contrast, a giant tree-ring-like nanosheet texture of more than 100 micrometers, and which is independent of the polarization direction, was organized at the periphery of the focal point. While the alignment at the focal point was common to both liquid crystalline and isotropic nanosheets, the tree-ring-like structure was observed only for the liquid crystalline samples. The latter organization resulted from a cooperative effect between the liquid-crystalline nanosheets, which indicates an effectiveness of optical manipulation to construct hierarchical colloidal structures with the aid of interparticle interactions.

Free Research Field

無機材料化学